The Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Communist Party of China has assumed overall administration of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), the Chinese People's Armed Police and the country's militia and reserve forces, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The restructuring of China's military command system coincides with the creation of three new military units, and is in accordance with a new set of reform guidelines which Beijing issued after President Xi Jinping led inaugural ceremonies on Thursday for a general command unit for the army, a missile force, and a support force for the PLA.

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Li Zoucheng, who previously commanded PLA forces in the strategically vital Chengdu military region, now commands the PLA land force.  The new missile force replaces the PLA Second Artillery Corps, and will oversee the country's nuclear arsenal under the leadership of Wei Fenghe.  Gao Jin will command the PLA support force.

CMC vice chairman Chan Fanlong announced the leadership decisions during the inaugural rites.  President Xi -- who is chairman of the CMC -- endorsed the new appointments.

In a speech, Xi urged China's new military units to follow the path of building a strong army that is always ready to act in response to the call of the people and China's communist party.

This newest round of reforms and restructuring in China's military comes three months after Xi announced a major overhaul of the PLA.

In a statement published by the state-sponsored PLA Daily, the CMC said the overhaul is aimed at allowing China's military to move away from a system that is almost entirely reliant on land-based fighting forces to one wherein the army, navy and air force are all equally represented.   

As expected, the Chinese military's reform and modernization program has worried some of China's neighbors, and has made some in the US military establishment sit up and take notice. 

China's growing naval might, and Beijing's escalating efforts to enforce its claim over much of the South China Sea, have sent the Pentagon's naval commanders scrambling to modernize the US Navy and revise the US agenda for naval bases in the Asia-Pacific region, according to Foreign Policy Magazine.

The US Navy is currently arming the guided missile cruisers of its Pacific fleet with converted Tomahawk missiles, AEGIS defense systems, state-of-the-art radar, and improved anti-submarine weapons.   Some 60 percent of the US Navy's entire fleet is expected to be deployed to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020, mainly because China's presence in the area has aroused concern among US naval planners.  

Missiles in China's new naval arsenal are meanwhile said to have an effective range spanning 100 to 900 nautical miles. Some analysts have pointed out that these new weapons could keep the US navy pinned down or locked out of a contested area in the Pacific.

China now has some 300 naval ships, and Beijing continues to pour billions of dollars into the country's new classes of destroyers, cruisers and submarines, as well as its first aircraft carrier.   

TagsPLA Navy, Chan Fanlong